The growth of organized youth sports in America has been phenomenal. Each year millions of children participate in a variety of organized youth programs in a variety of sports, both indoor and outdoor. Parental involvement, particularly attendance at games, is a key positive aspect of these youth sports programs. Many of the outdoors sports are played on fields in municipal parks or at public schools. For the most part, such playing fields provide only the most rudimentary facilities for playing the game, and are not designed for the comfort of spectators. Seating is rarely provided, and if provided is exposed to the elements. Often the only access to a playing field is by walking across one or more other fields, making it difficult to bring along seating, such as a folding chair or the like. Sitting on the ground is frequently not an option, since fields are often wet, dirty, and/or muddy. It is therefore common to find groups of parents and/or spectators simply standing along the sidelines for the entire length of a game. Depending on the sport and age level of the participants, this may result in several hours of standing, a tiring and uncomfortable proposition at best. Depending on the season of the year, the temperature may be below the comfort level of the parents/spectators. In some cases games may be played in spite of inclement weather.
As described above, carrying one's own seating to a remote playing field may be problematic. Sitting on wet, dirty, and/or muddy ground may result in wet and/or soiled clothing. Cold and/or inclement weather may necessitate the wearing of bulky garments, making it even more difficult to carry seating over a substantial distance.
It is therefore desirable to provide a combination blanket and coat which: allows a user to keep warm and dry in inclement weather, allows a user to sit on wet and/or muddy ground without becoming wet and/or dirty, is light-weight and convenient to carry, may be worn as a coat, and may be spread on the ground as a blanket. Such a combination blanket and coat should preferably be readily and quickly convertible from a blanket to a coat and back again, allowing maximum flexibility to respond to rapidly changing weather conditions. The combination blanket and coat would also be useful in other situations, including but not limited to: outdoor concerts, hunting, outdoor spectator sporting events, swimming outdoors in cool weather, or as an emergency accessory for an automobile. In the latter situation, the combination blanket and coat may be used on the ground while a motorist attempts to effect repairs under a disabled vehicle, or worn by the motorist while waiting for assistance in cold weather.